Category Archives: excessive force

Little girl, trying to sleep in your bed
don’t listen to the sound of the bombs nearby
just close your eyes and try not to cry
and let your brother sing you a lullaby.
And don’t listen to the noise of the guns
as the bullets flash by your door, don’t cry
just think of the peace found in sleep
while your brother sings you a lullaby.
Little girl, as you sleep in your bed
when you dream, try not to dream of the day
when soldiers came with their guns
and took your father away.
And when you wake up to a new day
looking for the sun, through the dust and smoke
try to find some hope in that terrible place
as you and your brother strive to cope.
Little girl, war is the world of grown ups
and there is nothing you can do
even if you tell them of your fear and sorrow
no one will listen to you.
But when the war is over and done
and you no longer hear an exploding shell
maybe your young life will be a better place
more like Heaven and less like Hell.

Police are called to a school to deal with students acting out.
Some snapshots from around the country this year: In October, in Chesterfield, South Carolina, police are called because of a fight. Nine students are arrested. In May, sheriff’s deputies use pepper spray to break up a fight at a Naples, Florida, high school. Three students are arrested and 21 students need medical care. In March, New York Police Department safety agents ask a student to remove safety pins holding his glasses together. When the student refuses, the officers reportedly tackle and arrest him.

What’s going on in America’s schools that necessitate seemingly so much police involvement?

Could crime in our schools really be so rampant?

During a week when the country repeatedly watched cell phone video of a student resource officer violently manhandling a South Carolina high school student, many are asking:

What exactly is a school cop’s job and does their presence benefit teachers, administrators and students?

~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~

Google Images

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

AP Photo/Brennan Linsley

~~GALLERY~~

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From the war on drugs to a crackdown on everything

Violent crime in schools has decreased over many years, said Annette Fuentes, who has studied the intersection of law enforcement and primary education for at least a decade and wrote “Lockdown High: When the Schoolhouse Becomes a Jailhouse.”

The path to putting law enforcement in schools was paved by President Ronald Reagan. As part of the 1980’s war against drugs campaign, his administration coined the term “zero tolerance.” That approach to school discipline was primarily intended to curb the increasing menace of gangs and narcotics threatening young people, she said.

The belief that zero tolerance could be applied to other infractions was bolstered when Bill Clinton was president and the Safe Schools Act became law.

But what began as an effort to help schools in urban areas morphed into approach that was often overly harsh, Fuentes said.

“The kids who were criminalized were overwhelmingly black and Latino students,” she said.

“What is clear is that kids who are punished disproportionately to their violation of school codes are more likely to drop out.

Kids who are suspended are more likely to because drop outs.

That means the risk of that kid growing up and falling into real criminal behavior is real.”

“There is no context that justifies a grown man slamming a child around a classroom like that. None”

Ryan Dalton via Twitter

Video shows cop body-slamming high school girl in SC classroom

By Tim Stelloh and Tracy Connor

Update

Federal investigators, including the U.S. Department of Justice, have opened a civil rights investigation into the matter.

”The Columbia FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest of a student at Spring Valley High School,” FBI Special Agent in Charge David Thomas said in a statement Tuesday.

“ The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence in order to determine whether a federal law was violated.

As this is an ongoing investigation, per Department of Justice policy we are unable to comment further at this time.”

The FBI has been asked to investigate an incident at a South Carolina high school Monday in which a police officer appeared to body slam a female student and drag her across a classroom.

In a news conference, a spokesman for the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, Curtis Wilson, identified the deputy in the video as Ben Fields, one of two school resource officers assigned to Spring Valley.

Fields had been placed on administrative duty pending an internal investigation, Wilson said, adding that the officer was declining interview requests.

Fields, who is white, is named as a defendant in a 2013 federal lawsuit that claims he “unfairly and recklessly targets African-American students with allegations of gang membership and criminal gang activity.”

~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~

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~~RELATED~~

Deputy involved in body-slam arrest of Spring Valley High student is dating a black woman so he can’t be racist, sheriff says

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I'm originally from Puerto Rico. I was born in Santurce and raised in Rio Piedras. I currently live in Florida - since 1999. I have a doctorate degree in Medicine; completed in 1976. My Internal Medicine specialty was completed in 1979. Worked for Puerto Rico's health system until 1985. At this time, I'm happily retired after working for the federal government for almost 28yrs. I also worked for the government of Puerto Rico from 1979 through 1985 .... for a total of almost 40 years as a physician. I want to offer any knowledge that I have to anyone "out there" who is interested. My views are liberal in almost every sense. My knowledge is "eclectic" - a bit of everything. Music and reading are my passion. Blogging has also become a very interesting endeavor. Metaphysical topics attract me. I'm interested in news - reporting human issues like injustice, discrimination and abuse - the "wrongly" affected. My intention is to bring this knowledge to an understandable level and to help anyone in need. I'm open to questions and will answer them to the best of my ability. Currently working on an enterprise whose main mission will be to bring peoples of all walks of life together. To be one .... since we ALL are ONE!! The future looks bright and promising!!!